Overseas fans ignore free Rugby World Cup house swaps
A company that offers free holiday accommodation to home owners around the world is struggling to attract customers for the Rugby World Cup.
HomeLink International NZ organises house exchanges and company directors, John and Valerie Martin, are promoting the free accommodation via a dedicated page on the website which lists houses near all RWC venues.
“We have largely failed to attract interest even when we read about the outrageous charges being asked for rental properties,” said Valerie.
Home exchanging is a relatively unknown way to get holiday accommodation free of charge whilst helping the local economy. By swapping houses and saving money on accommodation costs, travellers have more finances available to spend on local activities, shopping and dining out.
“Home exchanging is based on mutual trust but generally appeals to mature, affluent people who love travelling but are tired of hotels, motels, B&,” Valerie said.
“A number [of travellers] would not tolerate their home being occupied by “strangers” and although this is an unfounded misconception, it is still a major negative,” she said.
When Valerie and John travelled in Europe for 66 days last year they estimate that they saved $16,000 by exchanging houses. Valerie said they did four exchanges in three different countries with car exchange often included – a big budget item when travelling overseas.
Over the forthcoming school holidays a local Cambridge family have arranged to do their first house exchange in New Zealand and are swopping houses with a Rotorua family.
Mum of three, Carey Ennis, said although this was their first NZ holiday swap they had done it a whopping 21 times when they lived in the UK. She said the good points far outweighed any bad points and the main advantage was definitely the free cost. “No accommodation costs mean more money to spend on activities, eating out,” she said.
“There is a risk of breakages but for the 21 swaps we did in the UK we had one family break a picture but they had it re-framed and all sorted before we got home.”
HomeLink run the website where paid members can browse listings to find a property they would like to holiday at. The New Zealand company has around 350 members in this country whilst the parent company has 13,000 members worldwide .
Apart from the obvious financial gain the other benefits of house swapping include having more privacy, comfort and space than often found in motels or hotels and having home cooking facilities so you don’t have to eat out every day.
Families can swap with other child-friendly households and arrange to use baby accessories and toys so there is no need to pack everything to take with you.
Many house exchangers agree you usually get to know the other family quite well as you build a relationship beforehand and it can often be the beginning of a lifelong friendship.
